According to Ogden, Carroll, and Kit (2014), more than 30% of American youngsters are considered obese, and it's quite likely that this percentage will keep rising. According to current projections, childhood obesity will have a far more damaging effect on youngsters in this country under the age of 19 than do smoking and drug use. Numerous health issues, including some fatal diseases and a variety of psychiatric disorders, are linked to childhood obesity. Unfortunately, research shows that most parents and households do not have the right information on how to correctly they can tackle childhood obesity and the measures they can take to prevent it altogether (Singh, Siahpush, & Kogan, 2010). This paper investigates the prevalence of childhood obesity in New York City and the possible measures that can be taken to treat affected children and contain the growing number of victims.
The Research Question
The research will answer the research question: what is the prevalence of obesity in children under the age of 19 years in New York City and can its causes be prevented? To answer this research question, data will be collected on reported cases of childhood obesity within the city, from both previous research studies covering the issue and medical organizations that have voluntarily published this information. Factors leading to the rising instances of the condition will also be identified and possible measures that can be put in place identified.
Policies to Address Childhood Obesity
Some policies can be put in place that would aid in checking the situation. Policies selected as measures that can be used to address the situation are to be as practical as possible and ones that will pose no significant challenge to implementation. The success rate of selected policies will be determined by the ease which individual households can implement them without having to incur additional costs. The selection of useful and practical policies that are applicable at household levels can be very useful in providing knowledge of the issue to households and shedding light on measures that can be put in place to prevent the situation entirely. According to the World Health Organization (2012), policies set in place to check on childhood obesity should mainly be centered on behavioral change. Selected policies should touch on both the social, economic, environmental and medical functions to be effective in creating change. Additionally, for selected strategies to be effective, there must be a supportive environment and the existence of favorable programs that would emphasize such policies and result in tangible changes in the long run.
Analysis of Existing Policies
A comprehensive analysis of existing policies that have been effective as a means of combating childhood obesity in different parts of the world will be done, as a basis for determining the ideal policy changes that can be used in the New York Area. Additional research will also be conducted on the specific impacts that childhood obesity has had on children below the age of 19 years in the recent past, and the amount of information that victim's family have on the situation. The research will also be conducted to determine precisely how non-affected families plan to cope with the probability that they may have to deal with childhood obesity and the information they have that can be useful in handling the condition.
